Asia - photo by tommy the pariah (Flickr - link at base of page)
I have neglected the cat fancy in Asia and I would like cat fanciers in Asia to tell me what it is like in Asia. A colleague and contributor to this website, Rudolph. A. Furtado reminded me that I focus on America and the UK. Thank you Rudolph, you are correct. Rudolph lives in Mumbai, India. He has two gorgeous traditional Persian cats (here is one of his posts). I basically followed the easy course. The United States has the biggest cat fancy by far and England is the home of the cat fancy and my home. For the sake of clarity, the phrase Cat Fancy, means a community of people interested in keeping, breeding and showing purebred and random bred cats and who form associations to promote their activities (that is my definition).
The easy route, however, is not the right route. There is quite a lot of purebred cat activity in Asia and that needs to be recognised, discussed and celebrated; hence this attempt to start the process. An obstacle is language; I am sure language is the biggest obstacle to progressing the Asian cat fancy to where is it a major part of the world cat fancy.
Although I am almost bound to miss out a country, the countries where I think there is a cat fancy in Asia or where there should, could or might be the beginnings of one are listed below together with my thoughts and findings.
India
For me, Rudolph.A.Furtado is the cat fancy in India! But I know there are lots more people with purebred cats. Quite a lot of people living in India visit the site so there is an interest and that interest is probably growing as India becomes richer. However, as at 2010, I cannot find (which does not mean it does not exist) a cat association in India when doing an internet search. Rudolph, it’s over to you to start one or find one – please!
China
China is a massive country with masses of potential for a cat fancy. But at the moment it seems to be just potential and no actual cat fancy. Cats can be bought but these seem to come from kitten mills or off the street. Purebred cats can also be bought but they might not be purebred so importation from Indonesia (see below), the United States or Europe would seem to be the most usual way to buy purebred cats. I suspect that there are purebred cats in China but not many. So I ask China, here and now, to take a giant leap forward and get going. There is cat rescue in China. The next stage is cat fancy.
Hong Kong is part of China. The history of the British presence in Hong Kong has resulted in what is probably a pretty active cat fancy there. See Hong Kong Cat Fanciers' Club
Thailand
Formerly Siam and the home of the Siamese cat, the second most popular cat in the West on my reckoning , should have a cat fancy, surely? Well, yes, after a bit of intensive searching I found The Cat Fanciers Club of Thailand – great, I am pleased. However, it seems that there are no other clubs or groups of breeders. There is a cat show in 2010 at Bangkapi. There are purebred cat breeders too. An example is the Cat Eye Cattery in Bangkok. They breed Modern Persian cats. NTS Farm breed Scottish Fold, Persian and Himmies it seems.
Indonesia
Indonesia have a cat fancy. Their website is: The Cat Fancy of Indonesia - Link broken 2012 (CFI). There are quite a good number of purebred cat breeders and it seems that the preferred cat breed is the flat faced Persian (ultra or contemporary Persian). This may be due to CFA influence. The CFI was founded in 1997 so it is well established. Indonesia is marked on the map below:
I would love it if someone from Indonesia made a submission on this site. We welcome you!
Korea
At the time of writing this, all I know about Korea (presumed South Korea) is that a lot of people watched my YouTube video, A Beautiful Relationship. This indicates an interest in cats! And yes they are interested. Their Korea Cat Club is affiliated to TICA (The International Cat Association). The Club has been around since 2001, a good length of time. The website is not loading as at Aug. 2010.
Japan
The home of the 1000 year old Japanese Bobtail – they have got to have a cat fancy and the answer is they do. There are many TICA cat shows in Japan
. This is the TICA Asia website. Below are the TICA branch clubs. This is a screenshot because the Korea Cat Club (the source of this information) have not promoted the cat fancy by putting links on their site (sorry to be critical). As can be seen there are many Japanese clubs affiliated with TICA.
The first website, by the way, (top left) has nothing to do with cats! (as at Feb 2010) – great! Credo ( top left in the table above, a cat network in Japan) is affiliated to TICA but Google translation is poor for this site so I can’t figure how it is affiliated. The same goes for the others but this indicates that there is a thriving cat fancy in Japan. Indeed Ken and Helmi Flick went to Japan to photograph at a cat show: International Cat Photography.
Vietnam
As could be expected a Google search produces nothing. I hope Vietnam can start the process. Even a cat rescue organisation of some sort would be a start.
Burma
The supposed home of the Burmese cat but there is no cat fancy as far as I can see. There is doubt whether the there were any Burmese cats in Burma. Burma is a sort of trading station for wild cat parts, endangered or otherwise, so no surprises. It is a dictatorship run by generals so not much chance of personal expression.
I would like any person involved with cats in any capacity and living in Asia to share your experiences on this site. There are numerous forms for inputting information.
Sources:
Saturday(22/8/2020) DEMISE OF ICONIC CAT MATAHARI, A CATALYST IN FORMATION OF CAT CLUBS IN INDIA :- Its with deep sadness that i Rudolph Andrew Furtado announce the death of my 13 years old non-human companion “Queen Cat Matahari” .She expired today morning at approx 0800 hrs after suddenly taking ill yesterday morning with the most probable cause being cancer combined with “Old age”.In human terms she was 68 + years old.She died peacefully surrounded by her human family and with her 11 year old kitten now “Tomcat Matata” keeping a vigil over her. 13 years + is a long lifespan and she filled my life with “Cat humour” and entertainment besides being the inspiration role model for creating “Cat Clubs” as well as a catalyst in formation of India’s first cat club “Indian Cat Federation” and India’s first “Cat Show”.Now there is one less member in my household but the memories will live on.The image of her sitting on the window gallery ledge for the last 12 years will be missed by one and all.To quote Lord Alfred Tennyson , quote, “Its better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all”.She was buried at iconic “PRABHADEVI BEACH” which is the sea facing graveyard of my previous two dog’s “Blondie” and “Lucky” as well as cat “Trixie”.Thanks to fisherman Shri Mahadeo for digging the grave at a time when the “Coronavirus Pandemic” is creating havoc and a scare among us all humans.Yes, the SEA always beckons the living as well as the dead . R.I.P “Matahari”